I parked during the early bird time slot but was charged $71 instead of $18 because apparently they…read moreonly have a select number of early bird parks. Look for some fine print somewhere, I couldn't find it.

If ever in need of secure parking in Fortitude Valley you can't go past McWhirters. McWhirters is a…read morebig secure parking lot, with multiple levels. You can either enter it from Ballow or Warner street but I always tend to take the Warner entrance for some reason. Like all secure parking, it does come at a price however. Prices change depending on what day you are there but generally on weekdays it is $$6 for 20 mins or less and then steadily gets more and more expensive as time goes by. On weekends it will start at $9 for a half hour of parking privilege and then rise and rise some more. There are deals for early birds or late leavers so it is worth checking out the website. The best part about McWhirters Secure Parking is the convenient location, being smack bang in the middle of the Valley. It is also open 24 hours so if you are the sober driver you can take everyone home after a long night of drinks and dancing. Funnily enough, I did catch a couple having a more intimate moment in their car on the second level of McWhirters once. In fact, I was quite impressed at the bouncing of the car, the unintentional accidental beeps, and the fact that all this was happening at around 10pm on a Tuesday of all days. Most of the time however, McWhirters is just a good old place to park your car.

This is the cheapest parking near the RBWH. Plenty of spaces available.read more

The Barracks has been one of my favourite places to both eat or see a movie recently due to its…read moreconvenient location and variety of speciality stores. There is always enough parking unless of course there is a game on at Suncorp Stadium and more often that not you can get at least the first two hours free which is unique for a place so close to the city. The cinema has become more of a 18+ scene as it serves alcohol which they allow you to take into the cinema and the films are also more catered to that demographic which I find appealing. The shops here are many and varied, from a Sushi train, to Italian and Tapas restaurants to chocolatiers and ice-cream shops. There is also a sizeable coles supermarket, liquor store and a fantastic French Twist bakery and cafe which has a great atmosphere. Some of which I have reviewed in detail if you care to check them out!

I've been avoiding shopping and dining at the Barracks lately because parking here takes too much…read moreeffort. I understand that they want to exclude commuters and Caxton Street goers from their car parks but the two hour free parking does not work well for Palace cinema visitors. Most movies go for a minimum of two hours so even if you get your parking ticket validated, you'll get hit up for a $7 minimum parking fee. The last time I tried to catch Norwegian Woods at the Palace Barracks at 9pm on a Saturday evening, the car park was completely full and we ended up missing the movie trying to find a space. On a positive note, parking is less of an issue in the mornings which is great because The Chelsea and French Twist do a great breakfast. The Barracks is a bustling, modern shopping complex - great for dining and shopping but best to use public transport where possible.

I helped with the launch of Portside Wharf back in the days I worked for a radio station, but might…read moreI say, this little gem of a mall has come from strength to strength since. The shops on this little mall are very posh. Back in the day, if you wore a top hat and a puffy hoop skirt, this would be the place you would shop. Even the news agency seems a little better than your suburban one. What I love about this place, that not very many people know about is the Dendy Cinemas. You can watch a movie and have something to eat. Whether it's the fancy Sono Japanese Restaurant upstairs to your Fisherman Seafood place downstairs... and ice cream at the Movenpick. It's a pretty great day out.... especially when there's a ship ported. Those ships are massive and it's one of the few places you can go to see how big these cruise ships truly are. They also have many little markets and expo's during the year if you go at select times. Great little place with a great atmosphere... very romantic too at night time. Wink wink nudge nudge.

I used to work on Hercules st last year in a horrible cubicle desk job for 3 months. I couldn't…read morewait until lunchtime when I could walk down to Portside Wharf and sit outside near the water. It makes such a difference to the day! I would stroll down the road, buy a snack from the IGA and make myself a space on one of the seats right on the water. The view of the water and the city are a great combination and it makes you feel lucky to be in Brisbane. Trendy shops, up market restaurants, relaxing cafes, a cinema and markets on the occasional weekend, Portside has everything I like best for a relaxing weekend day. There is plenty of undercover parking or street parking on weekends. The only time you will run into trouble is when a cruise ship is docked. You might have a bit of a trek by the time you park down the road.

Depending on the reason, it could be a convenient location…read more I would recommend that you book online to know the cost before entry as it can be very expensive to book hourly vs early bird etc. There are also penalties ($20 to $40) if you don't get back within the departure time. If you book online, as a caution to other potential users, do not use your phone tap feature for payment instead of the physical credit card to enter. You will be double charged as a breach of entry t&c. It used to a be a pin entry and I had missed the note about not using the physical credit card for all of 2022 and this year. So that is ~$100 that I won't get back for not reading the fine print. I should have checked my credit card statement more closely. When I was trying to book online, it was a bit glitchy and I had to enter the name and date etc multiple times for it to work and I accidentally booked the wrong date (day after). But that was my fault for not double checking the date. I find the other car parks in the Brisbane CBD easier to book and use.

Below is my list of pros and cons. As you will see, pros outweigh the cons, just DON'T park here on…read moreWEEKDAYS!! PROS: - Convenient parking - Under ground - Elevator takes you straight from underground parking to Queens Plaza (hello Chanel store, Mimco, Mecca!) - 5 storey parking beneath Queens Plaza - Motorbike, 4WD friendly - Valet service available - $15 maximum on weekends - Open 24 hours CONS: - Super expensive on weekdays! (over 3 hrs is $65!!) - No cashier at exit - The driveway too narrow at bends (the walls have plenty of grazes from cars scraping)

My experience was limited to a layover in the international terminal, but I was certainly not…read moreimpressed. Signage for arriving passengers was pretty poor, particularly regarding transfers. The central food hall was especially crowded, the restrooms were terribly dirty, and electronics charging capabilities were nowhere to be found near the departure gates. And do they even have any air conditioning in the terminal? Mark this as an airport I hope I never have to visit again.

What a terrible airport for international departures. There are two departure entries to security…read moreand only one is opened. There are 400 people in line that they are trying to squeeze through. People are skipping the lines. I have never seen chaos like this all my years of travel. Edit: The single line goes downstairs. All departure goes through a single line. I see over 1500 people in line. Edit 2: it got worse. There are no signs for premium entry, so be warned. Once you're in the line approaching the scans, the chaos ensues. About 5 people had already put their stuff in trays as instructed, then another agent said to pick up our trays to wait in another line. Ok, fine. No sense antagonizing security. Edit 3: Everyone is concussed. No clear signs for passport checks. I stood there trying to figure out where to go, and got scolded at by an agent for not using the machine kiosks. Ok, I proceed there and put my passport in. The wrong way, he scolds me again. I told him it's a bit chaotic and got confused. He argues that it's not chaotic. The machine flashes red, and he tells me I'm not qualified to go through the kiosk after all and to go wait at the end of the agent line. There's just one agent there among the empty seats. She was trying her best, but it took another 20 mins. All in all, it was almost 2 hours to finally get through all that, only to end up at Duty Free, where I had another interestingly bad experience. This airport is not equipped for the traffic.

At one time back in the 1990s, Centro Toombul was one of the biggest and busiest shopping centres…read moreon the north side, until Westfield Chermside came along. Centro Toombul, which once had a big cinema, is now a shell of its former self - the cinema closed down years ago and David Jones finally shut its doors last year. However, like a Phoenix rises from the ashes, Target has now opened its doors in the old DJ's location, bigger, better and brighter than before. That David Jones was so sad and old and depressing, but the Target is huge! It has really rejuvenated the shopping centre, and I believe there is talk of a new cinema opening up in late 2012. Toombul is a great shopping centre when you don't want to battle the crowds of Chermside, as it has all the essential shops - supermarket, discount bargain shops, fashion stores, food courts, deli, bottle-shop, fruit and vege shop and more. It also has an Aldi, which Chermside doesn't have. There are a number of good eateries both in the food courts and outside the centre, including Sushi Train, Zarraffa's Coffee, Billy Baxters and Mehfil Indian. There is also a 24 hour McDonald's on top of the Toombul shopping centre.

When I moved into town, Toombul was a Westfield. They got picked up by Centro after that, and now…read morethey've moved on again. They're just themselves now. Has anything changed? Not at all. Much smaller, and nowhere near the range of Chermside, it can also be a lot quieter than Chermside. The cinemas have reopened here under Event, and thankfully they've had a refurbish, and it's a nice quiet spot to catch a movie. Groceries? Bi-Lo is gone, it was replaced for a while by a second Coles in the complex, but you still have Coles and Aldi. Something new is coming, we'll see. Admittedly I rarely do my groceries down here, I'll head to the 24/7 Woolies close by. Is Chermside a better shopping centre? But this is my local, I can walk here if I want to, and sometimes you just don't want the mega-mall experience.